Heavy Metal And Violence: More Than A Myth?

May 9, 2008

James Donkin of CNN.com reports: Violence and heavy metal seem to have been inextricably entwined since the dawn of the metal genre.

JUDAS PRIEST, MARILYN MANSON and BLACK SABBATH are just some of the household metal names to have come under public fire for supposedly inciting teenagers to commit murder and suicide.

It's a fire the international media has been happy to flame, quick to draw links between various acts of savagery and heavy metal even if, as in the case of the Columbine shootings and MARILYN MANSON, evidence points to the contrary.

For anthropologist, documentary filmmaker and self-confessed "metalhead" Sam Dunn, heavy metal is often used as a scapegoat to distract from the thoroughly more complicated societal problems surrounding such incidents.

"I think people look at heavy metal and label it for all sorts of things because we need easy answers to complex questions," Dunn says.

"I think that it's easy to target a heavy metal band for inciting violence or making kids turn to a cult than it is to actually look at real problems in the real world."

Read the entire article from CNN.com.

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